Java support is being added to the SRAPI Speech Recognition Application Programming Interface 2.0, set by the standards committee that Novell Inc chairs and of which IBM Corp, Intel Corp, Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV, Kurzweil Applied Intelligence Inc, Philips Electronics NV and Dragon Systems Inc are core members. The support will mean that Java developers can add speech interaction to their applets and documents. SRAPI 1.0 currently supports Windows95 and NT and Java will be added before the end of the year. Also in the pipeline is support for OS/2, Unix, NetWare and OpenDoc, but these are not likely until next year, according to committee chairman Bruce Armstrong, Novell’s manager of speech technology. At the start, the Speech Recognition Programming Interface just covered dictation, but has since expanded to include command and control systems and the committee is meeting this week to mull over speaker verification systems as well. Armstrong said the interface is much easier than Novell’s own Telephony Services Application Programming Interface, TSAPI in that it has an object-oriented C++ front end, while Microsoft Corp’s Telephony Application Programming Interface, TAPI is sticking to Windows systems. Speech Recognition Programming Interface supporters include Voice Pilot Technologies Inc, Kolvox Inc, Interactive Products Inc, Voice Processing Corp and Speech Technology Laboratories, part of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co’s Panasonic Group. The body will add telephony support that will be compliant with the Enterprise Computer Telephony Forum in the future.
